


The Stark Beauty of Winter (has nothing to do with the Ice Palace)

by 27dragons



Series: Tumblr Prompts [4]
Category: Avengers Academy (Video Game), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Fluff, Janet is a Good Friend, M/M, Natasha is trying to be a good friend, Pining, because bucky, but just a few because the author sucks at lyrics, but she literally just cannot with tony's dumb, emo song lyrics, in-game mechanics, oh god so much fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-09
Updated: 2017-02-09
Packaged: 2018-09-23 04:54:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,014
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9641558
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/27dragons/pseuds/27dragons
Summary: Jan scowled at her phone. If social media was failing her, it had to be something huge. The last time Tony had been this listless was when he’d been moping about his dad, but he didn’t have that guilty/anxious look that always gave him. The only other thing Jan could recall was when he’d been trying to convince Natasha to date him and Nat had been–Wait.Wait wait wait.That wasn’t Tony’s sulking face. That waspining.





	

**Author's Note:**

> This is a fill for these prompts:
> 
> 1) Bucky is crushing hard on Tony and is irrationally jealous of Misty, whose arm Tony made her. He also wants an arm spesifically made for him by Tony! Even if the one he has is working perfectly fine already!  
> 2) After arriving at the Academy, Bucky is shown around by Tony, and is really drawn to him. He’s so impressed by everything Tony has done for the academy (not that Tony likes to mention it, he only does so in passing as if it isn’t important), and after staying there for a while he is slightly horrified by how some people treat him/take advantage of him all the time.  
> 3) Every new song Bucky writes has subtle hints about how he is in love with Tony, not that Tony ever notices. Janet, however, does, and confronts Bucky about it to be sure he won’t break Tony’s heart, because she knows how Tony feels about Bucky as well.

“Hi, welcome to Avengers Academy!”

Bucky turned toward the voice, wary. When someone said “welcome” at Hydra, it usually meant they were planning to humiliate you or get the drop on you with an ambush.

Well, they could try. The Winter Soldier had carved out a niche of respect at Hydra, and he would make one here, if he had to.

“Usually it’s Jan or Pepper doing the welcome tour, but Pep’s off interviewing some potential recruits and Jan’s right in the middle of planning next month’s parties, so I said I’d do it. So hi, welcome – I said that already, didn’t I? – um, I’m Tony Stark, nice to meet you!”

Bucky looked him over. Tony Stark had armored boots and a gauntlet on his extended hand, and was wearing a garish red and yellow jacket over skin-tight jeans. Those jeans did not look practical for combat, but they did an excellent job of showing off Tony’s legs. Tony had artfully fluffy hair that made Bucky want to mess it up, and a scraggly attempt at facial hair that was kind of cute in its utter failure. He’d started off with a bright smile, but it was beginning to fade, a crease forming between his eyebrows.

“Uh, okay,” Tony said, dropping the extended hand and rubbing it on his other arm uncertainly. “So you’re the Winter Soldier, huh? Is that… what you want us to call you? I mean, most everyone’s got a codename and, you know, a real name, but we’re pretty divided on what we want people to call us. I’m Tony and Jan is Jan and Pepper is Pepper unless she’s _really_ mad at you in which case she’s Ms. Potts. But you should see how mad Enchantress gets if you try to call her Amora, and man, do _not_ call Hulk Bruce, he smashes _extra_  hard if you do that. And ‘Spider-Man’ thinks he’s maintaining a secret identity, so we pretty much humor him and call him that if he’s got his mask on, you know?”

Bucky considered this. “Names are nothing but words / it is the soul within that hurts,” he tried. Not the best meter or rhyme, but there was a theme there worth exploring.

Tony stared at him blankly for a moment. “Um. So you’re… cool with whatever, I guess. Okay. Well, I’m supposed to show you around the campus, so come on, I’ll make sure you know where everything important is!”

Tony led Bucky around the campus in a wide arc. Bucky already knew the campus layout, of course, having studied it in preparation for attack. But it was very different, seeing things with his own eyes, and Tony’s constant stream of chatter was often amusing.

“Two nightclubs, in fact,” Tony was saying proudly. “There’s the Galaxy club there–” He pointed toward a garish neon building. “–and the Guardians put on a mean death metal show, I gotta say. But a lot of us prefer something a little more homey, and that’s Club A. Pool table, jukebox, great dance floor.” He looked sidelong at Bucky, then shrugged. “Cap spends a lot of time in there, so…”

Bucky didn’t let himself wince, but he wanted to. His feelings about Cap – Steve – were… complicated. But Tony was looking at him hopefully, waiting for some sort of reaction, and Bucky was oddly disinclined to disappoint him. “The bartender is a robot,” he observed.

“What? Oh, yeah, I made him.”

“By yourself?” It took – _had taken_ – a team of three Hydra scientists to merely perform maintenance on Bucky’s arm.

“Oh, sure, robots are easy. The challenging bit was upgrading him so it didn’t cause any long-term damage when his head comes off.”

Bucky stared at Tony.

Tony shrugged. “Crossbones keeps ripping his head off, and I don’t know how many times I’ve tried to tell him they don’t like that, but he won’t listen, so it seemed easier to just make it so it wouldn’t hurt them too much, you know?” Bucky had no trouble believing that. Crossbones was… unpleasant. It wasn’t enough for him to accomplish his missions. He made it personal.

Tony was still talking about the robot. “… already had some easy-repair joints for the robots at the blasting range, so I just had to find a way to–”

Now _that_ sounded like something Bucky would enjoy. “Blasting range?” He swung his favorite rifle off his shoulder. “Show me.”

Tony’s smile was all teeth. “This way.”

 

 

***

Jan found Tony in the library. She was supposed to be studying entomology, which was usually one of her favorite subjects, but she couldn’t help watching Tony. He was listlessly turning page after page without even really looking at what was on them. Instead, his gaze kept drifting out the window toward the food court.

Maybe he was hungry; it wouldn’t be the first time Tony had gotten wrapped up in what he was working on and forgotten to eat. Though he didn’t look particularly absorbed now, which meant he was brooding. Stewing. Maybe even _sulking_.

Jan brought up the social media aggregator on her phone and scrolled through it with a few flicks of her fingers. There had to be a reason Tony was acting so weird. He hadn’t gotten into a fight with Steve for weeks; Jan had personally been making sure to take down all of Professor Pym’s posts on the message board calling for “volunteers” for his electricity experiments (honestly, Pym was cute but sometimes kind of thoughtless); there weren’t any new selfies from Crossbones posing with Club A’s headless bartender or from Hulk showing off a stolen cheese fridge.

Jan scowled at her phone. If social media was failing her, it had to be something huge. The last time Tony had been this listless was when he’d been moping about his dad, but he didn’t have that guilty/anxious look that always gave him. The only other thing Jan could recall was when he’d been trying to convince Natasha to date him and Nat had been–

Wait.

Wait wait wait.

That wasn’t Tony’s _sulking_ face. That was _pining_.

Jan clapped both hands over her mouth so he wouldn’t hear her squee of excitement and realize she was watching him. This was something she could help with! She would have to be crafty. Subtle. Tony sometimes objected to her help.

First, she had to figure out who it was. She couldn’t have someone  _unworthy_ attached to her best friend.

 _Subtle_ , she reminded herself. She shrank down into her Wasp form and flitted through the library to land on Tony’s shoulder. “Hi!”

Tony flinched a little at the buzz of her wings, but relaxed when he saw it was her. “Hey, Jan. Were you going to try to study? I can clear out.”

“Nah, I’ve got some entomology homework, but it’ll wait.” She critically examined the stitching on the collar of his jacket. It was starting to fray; she’d have to make him a new one soon. Heroes were so hard on their clothes. “So, who’re we spying on?” She peered through the window, trying to see who was in the food court that Tony might be watching.

“I’m not spying on anyone,” Tony said. Jan could _hear_ the eye-roll; she was definitely on the right track.

Maria Hill was at the coffee kiosk, but– ew, no. She was far too serious for Tony, and didn’t have much in the way of fashion sense, either. Tigra ran past, but she was obviously on her way to a fashion shoot or an important nap or something, not someone Tony had been watching for the last half hour while pretending to read up on the latest engineering developments. Anyway, Tigra had a huge crush on Cap. Misty Knight was considering her options for lunch, but if Tony had a crush on Misty, Jan would’ve thought she’d have noticed earlier, since Tony had been working on Misty’s artificial arm for _months_.

Pepper and Kamala were chatting in the line for the shwarma stand, but Kamala was basically everyone’s kid sister, and while Tony flirted endlessly with Pepper, everyone – including Tony and Pepper – knew there was nothing to that. Natasha was deep in discussion with Union Jack on one of the benches, probably listing all the different ways they could kill a man with the hot dog she was holding. But Tony was pretty much over Natasha these days, Jan thought.

Or maybe it was Union Jack? Jan considered that for a moment. Union Jack was about as gay as a guy could be without actually skipping everywhere and leaving daisy petals in his wake, and he’d never tried to hide the way his eyes lingered on Tony sometimes. But Tony had already turned him down (except for the body shots thing, and no one was counting _that_ ), so it wasn’t him, either.

“Jan,” Tony sighed. “Really, it’s nothing.”

“Don’t be an idiot,” Jan said, patting his ear. “You’re not that good of an actor. This will go much faster if you just tell me who you’re so obsessed with!” Well, she’d never been that good at subtle, anyway.

Tony groaned and nearly unseated her by dropping his face into his hands. Jan hovered for a moment and then re-settled on his shoulder, frowning out the window. “Come on,” she wheedled. “Don’t make me beat it out of you. Is it Misty?”

“No,” Tony groaned.

“Are you chasing Natasha again?”

“No.”

Jan was running out of options. “God, don’t tell me it’s Maria,” she begged.

Tony lifted his head to give her a disgusted look. “She’s even less fun than Cap,” he protested. “Why would I even.”

“That’s what I thought, but– Ooh, did you change your mind about Union Jack?” She could work with that. He was super-cute, and his colors would blend acceptably with Tony’s for couple-themed events. “I mean, I know you want everyone to think you’re straight, but–”

“I _am_ straight,” Tony said firmly.

“You dated _Loki_ ,” Jan pointed out.

“Only for a couple of weeks,” Tony pouted. He dropped his face back into his hands. “Anyway, Loki’s a girl sometimes.”

“That might make you _less_ straight, not _more_ ,” Jan mused. “We’ve  _talked_ about this, Tony. It’s good you want to make your dad proud and all, but hiding who you are is not the way to go about it! It’s not like he can disown you for being bisexual.”

Tony was quiet for a long minute, but the back of his neck was turning red. “Pansexual,” he corrected in the tiniest voice Jan had ever heard from him. “I think.”

“You don’t have to know for sure,” she said, and patted his ear again. “I won’t out you, I promise.” He didn’t lift his head though, so Jan went back to looking out the window. “Except I still don’t know who it is you’re–”

Oh.

_Oh._

_OH_.

Tony wasn’t looking at anyone in the food court after all. Past the food court was the Quad. And on the Quad was the Winter Soldier, soulfully strumming his guitar.

“Oh my god.”

“Jan–”

“ _Oh my god_.”

“Don’t.”

“You’ve got a crush on _Bucky Barnes._ ”

Tony groaned, but didn’t deny it, which was confirmation enough for Jan. She was so excited that she couldn’t resist zipping around the room a few times, trailing a barely-repressed “Eeeeeeee!” of excitement behind her like a banner. “Ohmigodohmigodohmigod!”

“It doesn’t matter,” Tony said, voice muffled by his hands. “He barely even _looked_ at me the whole time we were on the school tour. And maybe I’m not straight, but he _has_ to be.”

“Why does he have to be straight?”

Tony gave her a despairing look. “He’s Captain Perfect’s best friend from the Stone Ages! Rogers is so straight that even my dad would probably tell him to relax a little.”

Jan folded her arms and gave Tony her best glare. The one she practiced in the mirror to use on Enchantress, and people who mixed plaids. “Anthony Edward Stark, are you suggesting that straight and not-straight people can’t be friends?”

“No!” Tony backpedaled. “He’s just so…” He trailed off, looking at Bucky through the window again. Bucky had put his guitar away and was playing catch with a football-throwing device now.

Jan watched with Tony for a moment. “…Dreamy?” she suggested slyly.

“Yeah…” Tony shook himself, then shoved her, playfully. “Stop that! You know what I mean.”

Jan did know. There were a handful of students at the Academy who were out of the closet, but not many. Certainly not as many as, statistically, there should have been. But that didn’t make it any easier to ask someone out, not knowing if they even liked whatever you were. “Lucky for you,” Jan said, “you have _me_. I’ll find out for you!”

“You will?” The look of gratitude on Tony’s face was a testament to their friendship. Or to his desperation. She wasn’t sure which.

 

***

 

The Quad was a great place to hang out. It was wide open, not crammed with buildings and other clutter. There was always a quiet spot for Bucky to work on his music or practice throwing and catching.

Sometimes, there would be a new prospective student in the Quad, looking around and talking to everyone who passed. New students made the Academy stronger, more able to stand against their enemies, so that was okay, even if Bucky didn’t always trust the candidates, especially the ones who had recently fought against the Academy. Perhaps that was hypocritical. But Bucky knew his own reasons for turning against his former institution. He didn’t know theirs.

There was frequently a challenger in the Quad as well, daring Academy students to fight them. Sometimes, they triumphed, but Bucky’s classmates banded together again and again, relentless and fierce, until the challenger retreated in disgrace. Bucky had not yet been called to stand against a challenger, but he took satisfaction in refusing to allow them to disrupt his routine, in continuing to work out on the Quad, and showing off his arm so that the challengers could see it and know what they might face.

(He wasn’t the only one who enjoyed such tactics. The alien woman, Gamora, would sit on one of the benches for hours at a time, honing her sword and flipping it into the air, her cold gaze locked relentlessly on the challenger as it fell easily back into her hand. The Wakandan prince often chose the Quad to practice his lightning-quick fighting style, and the Black Widow, who was intimidating even at her most friendly, had been known to don a costume of eldritch horror and… _loom_.)

So there was every reason for Bucky to spend almost as much time in the Quad as training at the blasting range. It certainly had nothing to do with the fact that Stark Tower overlooked the Quad, or that its owner could often be seen through the windows, hard at work or even lounging in the decadent rooftop hot tub.

Still, when a slender, red-clad figure emerged from Stark Tower’s main entrance, Bucky noticed. He was a sniper; it was his job to notice things. It was perfectly understandable that his heart rate would increase as he evaluated a possible threat.

Somewhat less understandable was the sense of disappointment he felt when he identified the figure as Misty Knight, but there was no one nearby who knew him well enough to know what the subtle shift in his shoulders or the tip of his head meant. Or to spot the way he tensed again with the realization that he’d been out here on the Quad for a couple of hours, now, and he hadn’t seen Misty go _in_ , which meant she’d been in Stark Tower that whole time. Perhaps even… overnight?

He looked down at his guitar, but she had already spotted him watching and changed the angle of her path.

“Hey there,” she said when she reached him. “You’re Bucky Barnes, right? I’m Misty. I’ve been meaning to talk to you.”

Was she going to warn him off? Her hand was extended as if to shake, but it was her artificial arm. Bucky knew how much damage _his_ arm could do. But Steve had been trying to convince him that Avengers Academy was different. That he could trust – well, maybe not _all_ the students here, but _most_ of them. He took her hand cautiously.

“It’s warm,” he said, startled.

Misty smiled, wide and bright and not at all offended. “Yeah, that was a couple of upgrades back. Actually, I thought we could hang out a little and compare notes, if you want?” She wiggled the fingers of her prosthetic hand to indicate what she meant.

That seemed… good, actually. Talking to someone who knew what it was like. Still, he hesitated. He’d meant to practice his guitar for a while longer.

Tony burst out of Stark Tower, running hell bent for leather. He grinned and waved at them as he passed, late to Professor Pym’s class yet again.

“We can swing through the food court and go have lunch in the park,” Misty was saying. “Have you tried the new pizza place?”

There really wasn’t anything keeping him in the Quad. He could practice later. “Not yet,” he said, trying to remember how to smile, and gestured for Misty to proceed him down the path.

 

***

 

The pizza was pretty good, but Bucky was less interested in that than in learning more about Misty’s arm. It turned out that Tony had built that, too, and kept her supplied with upgrades on a regular basis. Much more frequently than Hydra had upgraded Bucky’s arm, which had been whenever he’d managed to get it so damaged that it was easier to replace than repair.

“Oh, all sorts of things,” she answered when he asked. “There’s the temperature thing – it’s not just cosmetic; the metal used to pull heat from my body in the winter and overheat me in the summer, and my whole shoulder just _ached_ from it, you know?”

Bucky did know. He was used to ignoring it, but… he knew.

He wondered if Tony would take over maintenance to his arm, now. Maybe even upgrade it some. He thought about having Tony close enough to touch, warm breath spilling over his shoulder, strong hands delicately caressing Bucky’s innermost circuits… He shivered. He hadn’t allowed anyone so close since Hydra. It was a little terrifying.

Misty was still talking, heedless of Bucky’s wandering thoughts. “And he’s always got a new trick for smoother function or faster neural response. Better waterproofing, a filter system to keep out dirt and stuff, power upgrades… All kinds of stuff. Seriously, Tony’s the best.”

Her colors were similar to Tony’s, Bucky couldn’t help but noticing – mostly red with black accents, and the arm was gold… Something turned over high in Bucky’s gut, oily and uncomfortable. Maybe the pizza wasn’t as good as he’d thought. “Are you and Tony… together?”

Misty snorted indelicately. “No,” she said shortly. “He’s brilliant, and he’s funny when he’s not trying too hard, and I owe him more than I’ll probably ever be able to repay. But no way would I date a boy who acts like Tony does.”

“I don’t… understand,” Bucky confessed. Tony seemed like he would be an excellent partner, clever and attentive and generous, eager to please and adventurous, and handsome–

Oh. Oh no.

It wasn’t fear, or the pizza. It was something much, much worse:

A _crush_.

 

 

***

 

“I don’t have anything against the guy,” Steve said as he lined up his shot, which was utter hooey, because Steve obviously  _did_  have some kind of beef with Tony. “He’s just kind of… flighty.”

Bucky leaned against Club A’s bar and calculated Steve’s shot in his head, the geometry of collisions blooming there almost as neatly as the arc of a clean shot. If there was one thing Steve did well, it was calculate ricochet. All that work with the shield, Bucky supposed. “He’s not flighty,” Bucky said.

“Maybe that’s the wrong word,” Steve allowed. He paused to take the shot, sending pool balls spinning across the felt. Two of them dropped into the waiting pockets. “He just never takes anything very seriously.”

Whatever his eye for angles, Steve’s eye for people – or at least Tony – was obviously half-blind. “Are you kidding me?” Bucky asked. “He does so much here – he built the blasting range, and he’s upgraded it at least twice! And the sparring ring–”

“Excuses to play with robots,” Steve snorted, walking slowly around the table. “Just happened to work out for us.”

Bucky rolled his eyes. “ _Plus_  he still runs his business.”

“He’s gonna run it right into the ground if he doesn’t buckle down,” Steve said. “The last thing I saw him testing was some kind of hoverboard toy. And then he comes in here playing big-shot, throwing his money around.”

“Hey, it’s his money,” Bucky said mildly. He didn’t ask if the hoverboards were a thing he could get for himself, because honestly, that sounded a hell of a lot more fun than playing pool all afternoon. “And staying on top of his classes. He’s got straight A’s, you know, even though I think Pym’s got it out for him.”

“Just ‘cause Tony won’t follow the standard safety precautions,” Steve muttered. “That’s not Professor Pym’s fault. Maybe he wouldn’t have such a hard time if he didn’t spend all his library time looking for books with pictures of pretty dames, or mocking everything in the engineering journals.” Steve made another shot, then looked up at Bucky across the pool table. “Look, I’m not telling you who you can or can’t like–”

“Gee, thanks, pal,” Bucky drawled.

“I just don’t want to see you get hurt,” Steve said, all earnest puppy eyes. “I mean, I know you weren’t back yet when it happened, but there was that incident a few months back where he was in here letting Union Jack do  _body shots_  off him. That’s not relationship material.”

Christ, Rogers was so full of bullshit, Bucky wasn’t sure why he didn’t stink. If Tony had anything going with Jack, it would’ve been all over campus. Hell, Bucky’d had lunch with Misty at the park  _once_ and it had taken three days to quash the immediate rumor that  _they_ were dating. You’d think, between classes and jobs and superheroing, these folks wouldn’t have so much time to gossip. Bucky was about to mention that to Steve when the door opened and Steve’s face lit up.

Peggy. Of course. The only person on campus who could make Bucky turn invisible. Steve put up his cue and jogged over to join her at the jukebox.

Bucky took another swig of his drink as he watched them dance. At least Steve had finally learned a couple of moves. But god, it made him ache with the desire to pull someone onto the dance floor himself. Someone slender and strong and unafraid of Bucky’s arm. Someone who’d laugh and rise to the challenge, ready to risk failure for the possibility of glory…

Bucky sighed and finished his drink. He waved off the robot bartender when it reached for a new can, and slumped out the door.

 

 

***

 

“I heard the most interesting thing,” Natasha said in Tony’s ear.

“Gah!” said Tony, because she hadn’t been there just a second ago, and then, “Why do you do that. Why.”

Natasha smirked. “Because it’s funny.” She stepped out of the cardboard box she’d used to sneak up on him and dropped into the seat next to his on the dorm patio. “I heard the most interesting thing,” she repeated, somewhat more conversationally this time.

“Heard, or overheard?” Tony teased. He pried open the back of the gadget he was tinkering with and examined the wiring.

“Heard,” Natasha said, faux-wounded. “Are you going to ask me what it was?”

Tony looked at her sidelong, then fished the multitool out of his pocket and started unscrewing the circuit board. “I don’t know,” he said. “If it’s about how Loki and Enchantress got into another fight, you can save it. I heard about it already from Jan.”

“No, I got it from Jan already, too,” Natasha said. “Did she tell you they were fighting about  _you_?”

Tony rolled his eyes. “Of course she did. I don’t know what she thinks I’m going to do about it. I dated Loki for, like,  _two weeks_ before I got sick of his attitude, and Enchantress only wants me because I  _don’t_  want  _her_. I really wish I hadn’t given her a key to the hot tub.” He held the circuit board up, checking the connections and switches. “How come the only people on this campus who are interested in me are  _ex-villains_?” He did some quick calculations in his head and flipped a couple of switches.

“Well, there’s Union Jack,” Natasha offered.

Tony rolled his eyes. “He’s not actually interested in me, you know. He just spreads that around to make himself look more attractively unavailable. He only really wants me for the tech, to be the Q to his Bond.”

Natasha didn’t say anything. Tony finished screwing the circuit board back into place, then hit the power switch. Well,  _that_  didn’t work. He turned it back off and reached for the multitool again. He glanced at Natasha. She was watching him like he was one of the mysteries of the universe. “What?”

“Nothing.” She leaned back in her chair. “Ask me what I heard.”

“Fine, whatever, tell me what you heard.”

“I was at the Winter Soldier’s open mic last night–”

“Oh, shit, that was last night?” Damn it. He’d been meaning to go to that. What had he been doing last night? …Oh, right, he’d gotten caught up studying that alien armor down in SHIELD HQ’s basement. He really should start setting alarms for himself when he was down there.

“Yes,” Natasha said. “And he had some great new lyrics to try out.”

“Well, that’s what open mic night is for, I guess.” Tony fidgeted aimlessly with the gadget, not wanting to telegraph his feelings too obviously, even though it was Natasha and she probably already knew everything just from the way he’d combed his hair this morning, or something. “I’m sorry I missed it.”

“You should be,” she told him smugly. “I think my favorite was the one about the ‘stark beauty of winter’ and the ‘red glow of dawn’, myself. Sif really liked the new ‘Snowmelt’ song, but I thought the bit about it dripping into the forge’s fire was a little overdone. Also, the rhyme was a bit forced. It could use work.”

Tony looked up at her. “He’s… really kind of impressed with the Ice Palace, I guess?”

Natasha’s mouth actually fell open. “You’re being even dumber than usual today,” she finally said. “That’s not what they’re about.”

What the hell did that mean? “But the forge at the Ice Palace is the only one we’ve got,” Tony pointed out.

Natasha dropped her head into her hands. “You’re hopeless, Stark. Completely hopeless.”

“Excuse you, I am  _full_  of hope,” Tony shot back, grinning.

Natasha shot him a Look that made him fear for his life, or at least his kidneys, and stalked off, muttering under her breath.

So, Bucky liked the forge at the Ice Palace, did he? Maybe Tony should try to spend a little more time there. His blacksmith costume was pretty sexy, if he did say so himself.

 

***

 

Jan found Bucky at the blasting range. “So, you’ve been here for what, a month now?” she said between zaps. “How’re you settling in?”

“Fine,” Bucky said, absently taking aim. The strange thing was, he actually meant it. His memories had been steadily trickling back, and no one had even hinted at taking them away again. There were people here who were actually interested in his music, who attended open mic night and invited him to jam sessions and sought his advice about harmonies. The classes were interesting – well, most of them. The staff seemed to think of the students’ well-being as people as much as their value as assets. And while not everyone was friendly – Bucky and Crossbones both still went out of their way to sneer at each other whenever they crossed paths – the atmosphere was much more relaxed and easygoing than Hydra had ever been.

And there was Tony, of course. Bucky’s mouth curved in a small, unwitting smile.

He actually  _liked_  it here.

“You know, Tony and I have been friends for _ever_ ,” Jan said.

Bucky flinched, just a bit, and his shot went off-center, wide by a whole handspan. Damn it. He made himself take a slow breath and aim again. “I’ve heard that,” he said neutrally.

“So you know that if you break his heart, I’ll have  _no mercy_ ,” she said. She shot him a glare, and it should’ve been cute and easily-dismissed, that stubborn pout and furrowed brow, but Bucky had seen what her stings had done to the target ‘bots, and her tiny Wasp form would be ideal for ambush. It was generally acknowledged that despite her fixation on fashion and social media, she was one of the more formidable students here. “And I don’t just mean cheating,” she said fiercely. “He’s  _sensitive_ , you have to be nice to him!  Don’t yell at him for working too hard because he tries to act all ‘man of leisure’ but he’s actually  _super_  busy all the time, and if you know what’s good for you, you’ll respect that. And don’t take him for granted because he’s already had to deal with just too many people who only want his money or his tech. And you’d better appreciate his genius, too! He’s the smartest guy on campus!”

Bucky knew better than to show fear. “We’re not dating,” he pointed out when she finally had to pause to draw a breath.

Jan demolished her target and huffed in exasperation as she waited for it to reset. “Well, that’s because he’s also kind of an idiot sometimes. You just need to be a little more obvious.”

Bucky actually lowered his gun to stare at her. “More obvious.”

“Yep!” She shrank and took to wing, and destroyed the target again with three quick shots.

“Is there a single student on this campus who hasn’t figured out how I feel about him?” Bucky asked.

“Um…” She resumed her human size and thought about it. “Well… Danny can be a little oblivious sometimes,” she said. “And Rocket doesn’t care about anyone’s love life.” She sniffed indignantly.

“And Tony, of course,” Bucky added. Just saying the name sent a shiver through him, as if it were forbidden. “He came to open mic three days ago and I sang the song I’ve been saving for him, ‘The Glowing Heart’. I don’t know how much more obvious I can  _get_.”

Jan smiled and reached up to pat his shoulder. “You’ll figure it out,” she said. Her eyes narrowed. “You’d  _better_.”

 

***

 

“Ug, she’s at it again,” Taskmaster growled as he stomped through the door into Club A.

Bucky glanced up, then looked away again. Taskmaster was supposedly reformed, but Bucky didn’t trust him. He spent too much time hanging out with Loki and Enchantress.

“Who?” Crossbones demanded from the spot he’d commandeered on the dance floor.

Bucky had almost turned around and left when he’d spotted Crossbones already in the place, but they both came from Hydra. Crossbones wouldn’t see it as Bucky simply wanting peace and quiet; instead, it would read as weakness.

Whatever. He’d only wanted a drink, anyway, before band practice.

“Amora,” Taskmaster snorted. He refused to call her Enchantress, even when she fumed at him. It was one of the few things that Bucky liked about him. “She’s trying to hypnotize Stark again. What the hell does everyone see in him, anyway?”

Bucky could have answered that, but why would he? If they couldn’t appreciate Tony without being told–

Wait.  _Hypnotize?_

Bucky threw back the rest of his drink and barrelled out of the club, heading for the Quad at not  _quite_  his top speed. He slammed to a halt when he saw them, the Enchantress’ magic a sickly green aura that slithered into Tony’s mouth and eyes.

Tony staggered under it, weak, and stared at Enchantress with wide, adoring eyes that made Bucky’s stomach churn with anger and disgust and fear.

Even as Bucky watched, however, Tony shook off the effects of the magic, his dopey grin curling into a sneer. He turned his back with a rude gesture and started to walk away, but the Enchantress was already sending out her magic again, dragging him back in again.

 

 

Bucky’s hands curled into fists.  _At it again_ , Taskmaster had said, which meant this wasn’t anything  _new_. The Enchantress tried to drag Tony into her trap  _often_. And despite having no protection from magic – certainly not Asgardian magic – Tony had so far managed to resist her.

God, the strength of will that must take…  _Could a_ flighty _man do that, Steve?_ Bucky mentally challenged.

But why the hell hadn’t anyone put a stop to this? Fury, or even Odin? Did it amuse them to see Tony so weakened? There were students, as well, fully capable of blocking the Enchantress’ lure.

 

 

Bucky growled, anger rising, and pushed himself into motion, stalking toward the tableau. “Leave him alone, witch,” he snarled at the Enchantress. He wrapped his hand around Tony’s arm and tugged him away, making straight for Stark Tower.

Bucky felt it, the instant the last tendrils of the Enchantress’ magic snapped. Tony stumbled a few steps and straightened, then looked at Bucky in surprise. “What…?”

“Had to get you away from her,” Bucky said through clenched teeth. He didn’t stop moving until they’d pushed into the lobby of Stark Tower.

“Away from…” Tony turned around to look behind them, though he didn’t twist hard enough to free his arm from Bucky’s grasp. His eyes widened. “Enchantress? Really? You… rescued me?”

Heat flooded Bucky’s neck and cheeks. “I dunno ‘bout that,” he said. “You seemed to be holdin’ your own. I just… couldn’t stand to watch it.”

Tony was looking at him, now. “No one’s ever done that for me before,” he said, voice soft with wonder.

Bucky bit back the first half-dozen comments that sprang to mind. (“Your strength does not obligate / you to carry all the weight” wasn’t a bad starting point for a lyric, maybe a song.) Tony didn’t stop looking at him, though, his eyes wide and warm. “Well, I did,” Bucky finally said.

“You sure did,” Tony said. “Thanks.” He smiled, and it lit up his face like the sun. Bucky swayed into it like a plant seeking the morning light.

 _More obvious_ , he thought, and said, “Don’t suppose you’d like to go get a drink?”

“What? Oh, uh, sure, yeah,” Tony stammered. “Victory drink, that sounds–”

“I mean like a date,” Bucky said, and Tony’s eyes rounded. Wow, Jan had not been kidding  _at all_  about Tony’s level of obliviousness. “I really like you,” he added, just to be sure. It came out a little too loud, verging on panicked. If Natasha was sneaking into Tony’s cheese fridge again, she was going to bust something laughing at them.

Bucky decided he didn’t much care. He let go of Tony’s arm, finally, and instead lightly brushed back the tips of Tony’s hair where they were drooping toward his face. “I like you a lot,” he said.

Tony swallowed, but he didn’t back away. He just kept staring at Bucky with those pretty, warm eyes. “You’re not– Really?”

“Yeah, Tony,” Bucky said. He dug deep and dredged up a smile that was nearly a grin. “Come on, doll, let’s paint the town red.”

“Iron Man red?” Tony asked, teasing.

“You bet,” Bucky agreed.

Tony slipped his arm through Bucky’s. “You’re on, hot stuff.” He laughed briefly. “Oh, man, wait’ll I tell Jan she doesn’t have to stick her nose in it, after all!”

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> The "body shots" [thing with Union Jack](http://navydream.tumblr.com/post/147206824726/).
> 
> I am on tumblr as [everyworldneedslove](http://everyworldneedslove.tumblr.com/) \-- come and yell at me about this dumb game!
> 
> Many many many thanks to [tisfan](http://tisfan.tumblr.com/) for helping me collect all the screenshots!


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